Uncertainty (Mila/Althea/Eresh)

[Mila]

Few Days After Spider Bite
--

Mila sat there. She sat there in the dark simply staring at her hands and wondering what went wrong. Scattered at her feet were her notes as well as several loose pages that documented the bael movements. Their poisons. Their tactics. Tactics. She had never seen baels.. Think.. Like that before. Her nursemaid told her what she had done. The sudden plume of fire that erupted from her hands and burned the big bael’s face. The maiden also told her of her recovery. The sage spent days bedridden with fever and thirst. Her body felt heavy and her legs numb. Her hands and clothes were burned. She stared at her bandaged hands and wondered how, why, and what. Her fingers were wrapped up in bandages and smelled faintly of herbs.

Her memory of the fight was hazy. She remembered building up the wall. She remembered certain bits and pieces of the battle. She remembered Vincent’s sudden accelerated speed and strength. She remembered Althea’s beams of pure magic. But, she couldn’t, remember the important parts. She couldn’t remember her own casting. What she did with the fire or why she felt so hot. Her memory of the fight the real bulk of the fight was a patchwork of blurry images and witness accounts. The sage gently moved her fingers towards her palms. The pain that shot up through her hands into her arms caused her to pull her fingers back out into the open air.

Her tent door was open. Anyone could walk in and check up on her. The open flap, gave her a tiny triangular like window of the world. The day was bright. Sunny. Fair. The sage felt like the day was mocking them for their failures by showering them with light. The sage bit her lip. She tried to form a ball of fire over her hand. Nothing fancy. She knew the words to the standard fire spell. She had it memorized. She knew how to do it. And yet, the orb of fire would not appear. Why? She was frustrated now. Why? Why?! They were counting on you! Why? WHY!

[Althea]

If there was one benefit to the dark mage's tendency to nearly kill herself every time she fought, it was that... actually no there really wasn't much of a benefit to it, the only reason she was up and walking was because Ereshkigal's alterations to her body had given her some degree of vigor that the sallow shaman had never really possessed before. That, or she was finally getting into good shape after all these stupid adventures. She wasn't really sure what the truth was, which was to blame more than others, but didn't care much for any of it. At least she didn't think so. Althea was having trouble telling for sure. Maybe she was just grumpy because she didn't like change. Or because she was scared of it. Or because what had happened in the Bael battle was bothering her more than she wanted to confront.

The problem with setting yourself up to be relentlessly logical and completely objective was that sometimes that involved applying those principles to yourself, and while it was easy to judge or gauge others for their failure or behavior, doing so to one's self made it very difficult to avoid ugly realities. And it made it hard to think of yourself as being relentlessly objective if you admitted to yourself that you weren't very good at doing so when it came to yourself.

So Althea, as was the wont of those who were avoiding themselves more than anyone else, had gone for a walk rather than trying to push her research forward. The papers would stand. Many of those who had escaped the lost town had already departed this temporary stop, but she - she hadn't really had anywhere in particular she had to be, and had been focused more on questions of self than outwardly. It was easy enough to justify; she had been meaning to check on that anima mage who had apparently ALSO nearly blown herself out - something Althea found equally ironic; it seemed that the modern magus came with a deathwish, given that she, Drei, Mila, and Aura all seemed quite excited by the idea of committing suicide by stupidity when it came to magic.

At any rate, a sedentary mage was not difficult to find and Althea found herself at the emerald magus's tent rather quickly, perhaps a bit moreso than she would have liked, and the woman inside... possibly suffering from an epileptic fit, or attempting to cast magic, possibly very explosive magic. The dark mage carefully weighed both options and found that she didn't really like either of them. But she had already revealed her presence, despite her quiet steps, by darkening the entrance to the tent and likely alerting Mila to her presence nonetheless, so despite a sudden urge to run the f**k away the dour shaman compromised by smiling weakly and trying not to look too much like a fireball target. "I apologize if I am intruding."

[Mila]

Ugh. Mila hated when depression raised it's ugly head. She knew how she was, she'd be obsessed with this line of thinking until she figured out a way to not be so damn sad. Or until something else distracted her and that new thing would be her new focus for the rest of her life. She put her hands down and looked up at the figure in front of her. A few things caught her eye. One, the shamaness infront of her looked great. Like, perhaps a bit too great. Here she was struggling to pull herself out of her cot and Althea was already up and about. By her logic, Althea, should be just as mentally and physically drained as she was. Mila remembered the big beams of dark magic and she remembered wondering how bad the shaman.. no.. she's not a shaman. She's probably a druid. A shaman would have probably exploded himself during the big beamy blasts of nether magic.

Is she intruding? No. I don't.. think so. What.. am I even doing.. Mila shook her head. Her tent was painfully bare. Save for her cot and a single chair that acted like a makeshift desk and a large bucket that was in the corner for other purposes. Underneath her cot was a tray with a water jug and some cups.

"No You aren't intruding." She spoke in a slightly monotone and sad sort of voice.

"Come on in." The sage motioned softly. She patted the other end of the cot with an open palm and waited for the other woman to take a seat.

"You.. seemed to.. have recovered quickly. Heh.. mind telling me your secret. Cause I still feel like crap." She tilted her head back a bit and let out a heavy sigh. She hoped that Althea understood what she meant by feeling like crap. Overdoing it with magic hurt the body in more ways then one.

[Althea]

Althea sort of felt like she was intruding, the way Mila said it; she couldn't tell if the mage's doldrums were targeted at her or something else, but hesitantly hazarded a guess that they lay elsewhere given that no one was fireballing her and Mila seemed more distracted than angry. Probably. With a thin smile, which was about as close as the dour dark mage ever came to jovial joy, she stepped inside, feeling the upper fabric of the tent's 'door' brush against her hair and then recede into the distance. Gingerly sitting down at what was now her end of the cot. As claimed in name of king and country. Dammit. Next she knew, Althea feared she would be turning cartwheels around a campfire and wearing a jester's cap if this bad case of having a sense of humor kept up.

She was privately relieved that Mila was not a great deal better of a sparkling conversationalist than herself. It was a little easier on her ego, for one, and few words better than many words. Except when it came to science. And magic. Althea managed somewhat of a wry smile, sort of a twist of the corners of her lips rather than a kind and affectionate grin or anything particularly impressive. "For certain values of recovered, at least. It seemed I pushed myself further than was... entirely... wise," she allowed, rarely eager to discuss her own failings but not entirely blind to them. "Nor would I recommend stealing my secrets. It involves cooking people in my witch's brew before eating them. It's really quite annoying to convince people to jump in. Especially when I'm unconscious."

...Yea Elibe could end now and she'd be happy. No more jokes. EVER.

Still better than saying 'yeah I have a Nether spirit with serious anger management issues living inside me and occasionally taking control of my body in episodes I usually don't remember.'

That would be even harder to explain than the cauldron.

"...How are you holding up?" Right. Conversation. Like a normal human bean!

[Mila]

"Eh.. Humans would make terrible soup." She spoke. Not really phased by Althea's mildly dark humor. As a matter of fact Mila decided to roll with it. She'd seen enough undead skeletons and read enough anatomy books to speak freely about the human body.

"For starters you have no idea where that human has been. Rolling around in gods know what sort of muck. Secondly, we have way too many bones, not enough meat. Lastly, at least sixty percent of the body is dedicated to removing toxic gasses out of the body and turning things into crap." Both variants of crap. She thought on that last one for a bit. Though to be fair. Baels like all spiders liquefy their prey before slurping it down. Where are Doogs just eat the meaty bits and non poop organs.

"Honestly, I don't know what the monsters see in us. We're terrible!" She sighed. She hoped she didn't just make a creepy fool out of herself just now. But, this was just how she felt. She felt awful and didn't really know what to do anymore. No. No. Mila don't you dare start crying.

"I'm alive. If that counts for something. I know i'm usually more chipper than this, but, ugh. That's the best way I can describe it. Just, ugh." She pulled her knees close to her chest and just sat there staring outside.

"Sucks. I was.. so hoping it.. the plan would work. And I'm.. frustrated. I can't figure it out. Why are the Baels doing this? They're usually not this crafty. And the whole thing with the mini acid bombers? That's not a normal spider thing! How could I have seen that coming?" She closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I.. you aren't the person I should be ranting at. I should be thanking you though. Those big beams of darkness.. I hear they came in clutch for those on the front lines. With out them.. there would have been more fatalities. So, Thank you."

[Althea]

"...When you put it like that, it does sound a little less appetizing," Althea admitted cautiously with a somewhat less than happy look on her face as she imagined it. A mistake, as it happened. But not one that could be easily purged from her memory. Granted she had never tried eating people before nor seriously considered it, but even now she could still taste the, uh, aftertaste of what Ereshkigal had done to the Bael and in a way that had accidentally spawned that joke. That... was something she decided not to share with Mila. Joking about eating people was one thing. Mentioning that the Nether spirit controlling your body apparently ate the life force of giant spiders was much creepier.

The moment passed regardless as Mila started to break down, much faster than Althea had expected or planned for. Not that she had, uh, planned for Mila to break down but - anyways. The dark mage simply let the other magic user speak, listening and appearing attentive as best she could. She could empathize to a degree with Mila's mess of words and feelings to a degree, more than she had realized. As usual Althea had made a point of trying to push back her feelings and emotions on the subject in the name of progress and finding solutions rather than wallowing in despair, but that did not mean that they magically stopped existing in the meantime. The whole experience had been remarkably out of character for her. Actually going out of her way, suicidally so even, in order to help people. Burning herself out rather than leaving enough energy to escape safely. If she hadn't been carried out bodily by that armored gentleman she would absolutely have died there.

"We -" The word caught in her throat, something else uncharacteristically. She tried not to think too hard about why. "-We did the best we could... saved countless lives. Without your presence there, the fortifications you erected, and the leadership of Vincent, hundreds more would have died. There were simply too few defenders and too many of the creatures." It wasn't the sort of rigid, unfeeling logic she justified it with to herself, but the closest to empathy Althea could summon from herself - though along the way she began to wonder if she was trying to convince Mila, or herself. "I-"

Hoo boy, almost got into personal talk, opening up to people, THAT wouldn't end well. And yet she didn't feel that what she had said was nearly enough to actually help Mila, and after what they had been through Althea found that she... wanted to help the mage anyways. She wasn't really sure how, helping people wasn't her thing really, but it did serve as enough of an incentive to consider continuing. "It... certainly did not go as I had hoped either. Power is not the solution to every problem, but of late rarely have I found it wanting." Was that what bothered her, really? That she had been relying on Ereshkigal's seemingly endless eldritch might too much, and that the one time she had been determined to rely only on herself she had come up short? Althea wasn't sure what the answer was, and she was even less sure that she would like it.

"I... am simply trying to say that you should not blame yourself for what happened. Rarely do the outnumbered defenders defeat a militarily superior force. You did a great deal to save many lives nonetheless; focus on that, and the future, rather than the past."

[Mila]

The unappetizing comment about soup sort of went over the Sage's head. She had her face buried in her knees trying really hard not to come apart at the seams. Her mind focused on the word terrible. It was a horribly appropriate word for everything that she felt. She wasn't as magically sound as she had hoped at this moment. She felt guilty she couldn't do more. Even though in the back of her head she knew there wasn't any more she could have done. Althea's words helped to calm her down somewhat. The fortifications, the healing, the fiery blast, the tactics, she literally did everything she could do. Vincent. Ugh. She didn't want to admit that he was also a source of her worries. He was relying on her too damn it. And while he managed to pull his own 11th hour superpower, which had it's own share of repercussions. It was his screaming at the very end of it all that stuck with her. His begging not to sound the retreat. Focus.. on the future. What future? She shook her head. Eventually, she pulled her face out of her knees and wiped away the tears. She took a deep breath and turned her head to face Althea. She still rested her own head on her knees. But, this time it was her cheek that maintained contact with her legs. Not her forehead. She used her hand to pull away the stray hairs off her own face. Oh. Right. I didn't bother with the ponytail. Or the brush. Or.. ugh.

"Thank you." She managed a soft smile. Before, her eyes trailed downwards and she looked a bit lost. It was a this moment she realized she knew little about the Druid in front of her. A shift. In focus. Okay. Let's.. try.. to manage the present.

"So, what's your story? With Eturia's taboo against Elder Arts and the.. whole.. monsters being comprised mostly of Nether thing.. Practitioners of Elder Arts.. are few and far between. Advanced Casters even less so. You come from an academy or something?"

[Althea]

It was clear that Mila was in very poor shape, mentally as well as physically. It was equally clear that Althea was inadequate to significantly alter it. She was less alone than she had been, yes, but being able to talk to Drei as equals was significantly different from being especially good with... girly, or... emotional things. Thinking deeply and analyzing things was excellent when deactivating ancient traps, solving riddles in ruins, piecing together clues to locate sites of interest, or bending the infinite power of eternal darkness to her will.

Spending 20 minutes analyzing each sigh of someone she didn't even know... not so much.

It bothered her, somehow, that she even cared at all. Logically speaking she had no reason to give a damn what Mila's mood was like. She certainly didn't need to rely on the mage for anything now. But these days it seemed like she did a lot of worrying about how other people 'felt' and what they thought of her, and that confused and annoyed Althea in equal parts. Mostly because she didn't really understand it, but also because it was clearly hazardous to her health given that she had nearly died protecting that stupid town for no reward or valuable information.

...She still kind of wanted to put a hand on the mage's shoulder, or something, but ended up standing there awkwardly instead as Mila pulled herself back together. Without any aid from her. Another brick in the wall of stupidity that seemed to exist between her and normal people.

"It... it was nothing," was about the best Althea managed to come up with for the undeserved thanks she received from the mage. Not quite her finest moment either, but thankfully Mila offered an escape route, one that the dark mage pursued with wanton abandon - a decision she almost immediately regretted.

"My... story?" Yes, because she was the absolute epitome of sharing information about herself, everyone knew ol' lady Althea and her fireside stories. "An academy-" She hesitated, paused, unconsciously biting her lip for a moment in what wasn't quite the emotionless facade she generally preferred, only regaining control of frayed strands of thought after further moments of meandering mindlessness. Althea couldn't help but smile, a sad little quirk to her lips that hardly held the joy of a real smile. "No, no academy." Not now. Not ever. Not after what had happened to those close to her who had tried that kind of thing. "I am merely an archaeologist of sorts, interested in the history and application of magic. What of you, Mila?"

Some level of unwarranted arrogance made her want to mention her research that had aided in modern dark magic theory, but Althea quashed that notion as she did most others, more content to contribute and move on than dwell overmuch on her feats.

[Mila]

OOC- I thought I replied to this ages ago. My bad.
--

"Archaeology?" Now that was a word she hadn't heard in a while. A word that brought back some old and troubling memories. She remembered enjoying the subject immensely during her time as a student. She remembered her classmates. She remembered the group of them trekking through the country side and into the sands of Nabata to come across an old ruin. She closed her eyes. She remembered what happened next. The crumbling structures. The screams of her classmates. She took another breath in then quietly let it out.

"Me?" She thought on that for a moment. What was she? Besides a terrible planner and a failure of a human being? Stop that. Focus.. on the conversation.

"I'm just a researcher. I've been chasing, hunting, and trying to figure out the monster mystery since, fall of Osita." Perhaps a little after the fall of Ostia. Now that she had to sit and think about it. She's done a lot within the past few years. She's fought all sorts of terrible monster, made all sorts of friends, and possible foes.

"Though.. I would be interested to hear of your magical applications. It's been a while since I've had a chance to talk magic.. like a.." Like a nerd! She could hear her brother's teenage voice in her head. 

"Like.. an academic person.. would." She tried to muster a smile. Note to self, work on our choice of words. 

[Althea]

"A researcher." Althea nodded, her respect for Mila jumping a small notch. ...Not that she had especially disliked the other woman beforehand or anything. But it was nice to meet someone who enjoyed learning for its own sake. Not for power, or prestige. But for the joy of knowing. Unraveling the secrets of the universe and all that. Doubtless Mila had her own motivations, selfish or selfless it didn't matter much. Most of her own were selfish anyways. To defend herself, to understand what she wanted to know, sharing that knowledge with others existing as but a distant second fiddle.

To learn more about monsters was a... laudable cause though. It was admittedly something Althea herself had never held in much interest. Not that she was against the idea, or held it to be worthless, simply that it did not fit within her narrow focus and thus had been left on the wayside for others more interested to figure out. "I have mostly ignored their kind aside from necessity, though the magic driving them could be an interesting subject. Elibe could certainly use more with your interests, though. At this rate they will leave much of Lycia uninhabitable ere long."

The dark magus continued without pause or much concern for the subject change, her demeanor sharpening to a degree as she moved to subjects more fascinating to her personally. "I have studied the history and application of magic for much of my life, in recent times focusing more on alternate uses of Elder magic rather than the stolidly simplistic views of the age. For such a mutable existence, an energy that can become a fluid or a solid, certainly there must be usage beyond killing and animating the damned. Little will change the perception of dark magic, but that ill means it cannot be useful to modern humanity nonetheless, as an energy source or at least something worth understanding in itself."

...And as a weapon, she supposed. Many of her developments over the recent past had been how to more efficiently and effectively slaughter those in her path, be they bandits or beasts. Althea could hardly say it was her primary goal, but it had turned out to be an intellectually stimulating challenge and one that she did not fear to say she appreciated. It kept her mind off of other things. And it was the closest to 'fun' she knew. "And I... enjoy it."

[Mila]

Mila sat and listened to what Althea had to say. Oddly mesmerized by her words. There were few in the world who complemented her on her research on monsters. Most just saw monsters a beasts that needed to be slain. And, while she agreed with them. They were still creatures who deserved to be studied. Studied in order to help future generations. But, there was a painful truth to Althea's words she tried her hardest to ignore. But, the evidence of those words, she just witnessed it first hand. The monsters.. were winning. Her mind briefly flashed back to the map on the wall when this all started. To all those villages that had already fallen. A precursor to what Lycia will be. As much as she didn't want to admit it. 

"The magic that drives these monsters it a mystery. I think it's mostly nether.. but.. there are other monsters out there. Other beasts.. who feel more natural. Like.. they belong in the world.. like the trees and animals do." She thought back to Vinland. To the dying bael that seemed to give off a different vibe then the ones seen a few days prior. She wished she could describe it as something more than a feeling or a hunch. 

"Th..that's not to say Nether doesn't belong within the world either." Foot meet mouth. She cleared her throat.

"It's the opposite to Light. Can't have one with out the other." Right. She curled one hand into a fist. She did it hard enough so that her fingernails dug into the flesh of her palms. It was the most discrete way she could kick herself for saying something so dumb.

"I'd like to hear more about your practical applications. I will admit.. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to dark magic. Etruria did not teach it... And the last shaman I traveled with.. was still learning as he went. But, magic that has the ability to change it's properties from liquid to solid on a whim.. sounds awesome." She meant that. Magic and it's properties were fascinating in their own right. But, mostly she wanted to hear and talk about something that wasn't related to the monsters. Not related to the hundreds of dead who's bodies now littered the floors of the decimated village. She slowly un-clenched her fist.

"Anima has.. something similar to that with Fimbulver."

[Althea]

Monsters that were animated by the Nether, Althea was loosely familiar with. She hadn't really studied it thoroughly, but who better than an Elder magus to recognize the user of the Nether in those creatures she killed? Monsters who were animated otherwise though, that she hadn't really heard of. "Interesting. I have heard of elemental creatures at least, but my knowledge of monsters is lacking. The most I have heard could hardly be referred to as more than legend, of those creatures somehow... tamed on Vinland? A far-fetched claim that could hold merit, but could as well be the drunken ramblings of sailors." She would have shrugged if she felt the need to be that evocative of her feelings on the subject. It wasn't that Althea didn't care at all. She just... cared more about other things. And those stories were probably just that, stories.

Althea wasn't overly bothered by Mila's verbal faux pas, though going by the mage's troubled expression and awkward wording it seemed that Mila was far more so. To be sure, she had issues with those who believed the Nether shouldn't exist in Elibe at all, but how the mage had worded it sounded more like she was talking about the natural magic of Elibe, and that was something Althea would agree with - Elder magic flowed from the Nether after all. That it could have use in Elibe didn't mean it was natural to this world. She smiled as naturally as she could to try and give the mage some reassurance.

"I am... not as familiar with Anima magics," Althea admitted slowly, ever adverse to admitting she didn't know something. She knew the general concept of course, she wasn't a complete moron, but the specifics just hadn't come up as much as she would have liked right then - it always seemed as though something else came up and distracted her before she could brush up on the details. "The vast majority of my study has been with Elder magics, though I have been learning how to heal, and would like to learn Light magic at some point." If only to exorcise Ereshkigal. But also to compare the energies more effectively. Still, despite her usual dour demeanor, Althea was rapidly warming up to the subject and actually trying to participate in the conversation rather than just answering questions. "Anima magics, to my understanding, are incredibly varied - each branch of magic, 'tome', is very different from the rest, each drawn from a fundamentally different source. Even an imbecile can tell Fire and Ice magic are different.

Elder magic all comes from the same source - the Nether. My work has revolved around exploring how different conceptual understandings of what it is can actually transform its nature. Mire is fluid, Ruin is mass. Fenrir is spirit, Eclipse is gravity. Luna is energy. So on and so forth. Each uses the same source, but converts it to a different existence entirely, refracted through a different lens." As she got more and more into it, her already precise diction grew dryer even as she grew more animate, at times repeating some of her favorite lines from her own academic papers on the subject.

"Some spells have historically been woefully misunderstood - Luna of course - but are there others that simply have not even been guessed yet? This is an exciting time in modern magical theory - ancient spells resurrected in the modern age - could there be more yet undiscovered? Fenrir was a recent discovery, or rediscovery I am uncertain, and I know one practitioner of it already. Are there other spells? Is it possible that these monsters are simply the result of a spell similar to Fenrir? Could we wrest control of the beasts from their master, if they have one, and end this costly war without needing to even fight it?"

At that point Althea was forced to stop, mostly out of the unfortunate human necessity to breathe.

[Mila]

"Oh. I can tell you about Vinland." She waited until Althea was done talking or rather forced to stop talking because she needed to breathe. Heh. The small display of excitement from the shaman infront of her was enough to get her excited too. Especially when it came to talking about Vinland.

"I've been to Vinland! The natives there are something else. There are two types of people who live on that island. Regular old humans like you and I. And the taguel. Shapeshifters. Able to change between man and beast at will. The ones I met were a pair of brothers. Two hawk Taguel, had those monsters as hunting partners. They had a variant of a doog.. a beast.. that's like a wolf." And then we got ambushed by an actual wolf taguel.. and his pack. She left that part out. 

"And together they hunted down a bael. A bael I had never seen before. And one that was different then the ones we saw during the attack. That bael died and the group of Taguel divided it up to be used as food. It was truly something to behold! I've got it all written down in a journal somewhere here." Mila took a look around the bed and wondered where her bag was. But so far the only thing she was met with were the scattered pages of her former knowledge. She went to go pick one up, remembered her hands were still bandaged, then sighed softly. She leaned back on her bed a bit. 

"Never mind." She took a moment to digest what Althea said about Nether magic. The different varieties that existed but they all came from the same source. And Althea was doing her best to try and learn new things. Healing magic. Light magic. Mila wondered if a mage fluent in both light and dark could even exist. 

"Fascinating. Nether magic.. it.. all the same base and it's able to take up such a myriad of different forms. Sort of like Wild Cabbage." She mused out loud. Her mind worked in mysterious ways when it came to comparing one thing to another. Wild cabbage was famous for it's diversity in producing a myriad of other edible crops with proper human intervention and cultivation. 

"Anima functions in a similar method. Though it harnesses the power of nature.. from nature. With a minor toll on the caster of course. I suppose the reason it's so diverse is.. because nature is diverse. Oooh, on the subject of rediscovered magic, Anima's equivalent is Flora. Magic that's able to bend plant life to the caster's will. Wait wait.. let's back up a small bit." Mila raised her hands up. She pried herself off of the cot and eventually found her bag hanging at the base of the cot. She grabbed it as best she could with her crab hands and pulled it up onto the bed. She fished for her good old Trinity tome and held it up. 

"I prefer a more practical approach to learning about new things. How about we trade our starter books for a few hours. We can drag a few chairs outside of this dreary tent and read them under the sun. Because, I have a feeling if we both start talking about the advanced stuff, before knowing the basics of each other's respective's magic, the only thing we will be teaching each other is confusion." 

[Althea]

"Taguel..." Well, that was certainly outside her purview, but interesting nonetheless that Mila was familiar with them. Althea tolerated traveling in the search for research, but given her luck with pirates, trying to visit Vinland would probably just end up with her walking the plank, or worse. Given some of the stories she'd heard about pirates - probably much worse than just drowning. Still, hawk-men and wolves were an interesting thought. Interesting enough to change her focus? Althea wasn't sure about that. If anything, she would want to visit Vinland more for the possibility of experiencing the supposed primal magic she had heard of, and more importantly, the long lost ruins she had heard scattered rumors of. What manner of knowledge might be lost amidst those savage jungles? What secrets of magic or history may lay, forgotten for all eternity unless dug up by a desperate hand?

Sounded like dealing with weird Baels and crazy animal people that ate spiders was a bigger concern, though. "...They ATE the Bael?" Disbelief was naked on her face, the dark mage perturbed by the thought of feasting on a spider in any form. What kind of savages were these taguel, and did she actually want to know? The answer was no, no she absolutely did not want to know, ever, at any point in her life. She also wasn't sure she wanted to know how Nether magic was like wild cabbage, but that was easier to skim over.

Mila's explanation of Anima magic seemed reasonable, roughly in line with what she knew. Just because she didn't use Anima magic didn't mean she was completely clueless about it after all, but at the same time it would be dishonest at best to say she was anywhere near as knowledgeable as Drei, much less Mila apparently. And despite her pride, she was not adverse to learning. "Flora sounds like it could have a significant effect on agriculture, if it could be extrapolated to larger scale endeavors, but modern magic has yet to approach what was seemingly possible with mass-scale magic in ancient times. Terraforming would be a useful tool as well..." She shook her head. Humanity had to learn to work together in order to reach that zenith once more. She knew she wouldn't be alive for it if it ever did happen, and she knew there was a strong possibility it never would.

"Regardless. That is an intriguing proposition, one I believe I will take you up on. Some good reading and conversation would indeed make for a pleasant afternoon. It... may take me a few moments to locate my Flux tome however, I have not read it in quite some time."

[Mila]

That was not the reaction she was expecting to hear. Mila had forgotten that most people usually do not eat bugs. She didn't eat bugs either, but after spending an extensive amount of time on Vinland, learning about the peoples, and their cultures, the sage was desensitized to the shock of bug eating. 

"To be fair.. their baels were completely different than the ones we fought. The locals states them to be crunchy and packed with protein." Mila shrugged in an attempt to make light of the situation. 

"It's a shame the world today was not what it was. I know ancient times had magic that was.. far beyond that of our own. But, I never imagined such a grand scale of things. Mass scale agriculture sounds amazing. The ability to feed a nation with just the wave of a hand from a few skilled mages. The possibility for good is nice. But, I can also see the possibility for the bad." She closed her eyes. And visions of Osita flashed in her head. The barren wasteland of a once prosperous city with a population of people in the thousands. Possibly the hundreds of thousands. All of it reduced to ash and cursed with the living dead. She wrapped her arms around it and held it close to her chest.

"And the bad.. is awful. Whole cities could be wiped off the map by the power of those same mages. Razed by fire. Torn asunder by earthquakes. Those same crops could be withered to dust. And that power would come from a few humans.. who may or may not be in the command of another." Never forget Mila. People are jerks. Selfish. Conniving. Thieving jerks. She could hear the voice of her late grandfather in her head. She opened her eyes again, and regained her sense of the world. She was glad to hear that Althea did not find her idea terrible. 

"Thank you. Go look for your tome. I'll be here." I'll be here.. trying to figure out how to get those chairs outside with these club hands.